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Soft material, such as pine bark chips and rubber,
should be more widely used on the surface of playgrounds to reduce the number
and severity of injuries to children, according to researchers at the University
of Adelaide. Carl Howard and Ian Brown from MechTest, the
consulting arm of the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, say
that organisations responsible for playgrounds, including schools, day care
centres, food chains and councils, should make sure that soft surfacing is used.
Brown and Howard say that the community in general is not aware that a standard
covering the use of soft materials for playgrounds was introduced last year by
Australia and New Zealand. If the standard was widely implemented the number and
severity of injuries to children would be cut by half, they say. In South
Australia each year, about 1300 children are admitted to hospital after falls in
playgrounds. About 19 per cent sustain head injuries and 5 per cent suffer brain
injury. Brown and Howard are using a simulated head wired to a computer to model
the impact of falls on pine bark chips, plastic tiles, rubber mats and other
surfaces.